It’s been cold. We don’t have to tell you, right? It’s been so cold, you haven’t even wanted to leave the house to trundle to work or run errands or pick up the kids from school. But you must.Full story
Yasmine never does a job by half. On 1 February in a show that is already sold out, the artist launches a unique, three-dimensional project: it's a tour, it's a book, and it's a CD. This celebration of Yasmine's literary heroes is aptly called Yasmine houdt woord (Yasmine Keeps Her Word)Full story
How does he get out?
How does he get in?
I think they should cover the rotunda in bird's nests; it's much prettier.
So went the comments from onlookers of Benjamin Verdonck's most famous installation, "The Great Swallow", in Birmingham, England. Verdonck constructed a gigantic bird's nest on the side of an office building known locally as "the rotunda". Then he lived in it for several days, sometimes perched on top of it wearing an Indian headdress, sometimes throwing out bits of twine, sometimes scattering large, colourful feathers to the wind. Full story
Flanders will be represented at the World Exhibition in Shanghai in 2010, but it was a close-run thing. “There are many better ways these days to promote a country or a region than to stand in a corner of the Belgian pavilion at something so outdated as a world exhibition,†said Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters in October 2007, commenting on the decision taken by his government several weeks previously, but not at the time announced. “It costs far too much, and brings relatively little in return,†he said.Full story
Despite the huge imbalance in size, Belgium and China have well-established trade links, and economic and business connections between the two countries are growing all the time. The global financial meltdown has of course had an impact, but China's economy is still growing, and several Flemish companies are setting their sights on getting a slice of the potentially lucrative Chinese market.Full story
The 2009 Auto Salon opened at the Brussels Expo at Heizel amid worries of the effects of the economic crisis on sales. Organisers reported that all stands were filled as usual, but many exhibitors had clearly invested less on the occasion than usual. One report said that Mercedes was spending up to 40% less on its presence this year, while Opel’s budget was 25% down. Car manufacturers, meanwhile, spent “more than 10% less†than in previous years on advertising, according to advertising agency Clear Channel. The January salon period is normally a high-point of the year for car advertising.Full story
Anheuser Busch InBev, the Leuven-based largest brewer in the world, caused shock waves last week when it announced its plan to move a complete layer of senior management to New York. Following an unspecified transition period, 116 management jobs will move from Leuven to Manhattan. The jobs concerned are currently held by 89 Belgian staff and 27 other nationalities in departments such as finance, personnel, legal and marketing.Full story
Certainly, it must be something that has flown over from the United States, where you can contract out virtually any task: walking your dog, picking up your groceries, parking your car or shopping for a new wardrobe. Now, small companies are popping up all over Flanders, willing to take over the agonising chore of scrutinising this season's trends and picking out only those items that are perfectly right for youFull story
In the mid-1990s, French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand embarked on an ambitious project: to create an image bank of aerial photographs of the earth. The remarkable book that resulted – The Earth from Above – was published in 1999 and translated into 24 languages. It is one of the world’s best selling illustrated books with more than six million copies in print. Unsurprisingly, it stimulated publishers around the world to consider similar books.Full story
From the early 15th century, Flanders was renowned for its huge, beautiful, tapestries. Through sumptuous fabrics of wool and silk, threaded with gold and silver, they brought to life contemporary events such as decisive battles, as well as stories from the Old Testament, the life of Christ and the saints, romances of chivalry and ancient myths and legends.Full story
